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'World’s loneliest elephant' given green light for new life after 35 years in Pakistan zoo

The "world's loneliest elephant" will be allowed to leave his Pakistani zoo in favour of better conditions, animal welfare activists have said.

Kaavan has languished at Marghazar Zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for more than 35 years.

Martin Bauer, a spokesman for animal rights group Four Paws, said the elephant has been finally given medical approval to travel, most likely to Cambodia, where he will find companionship and better conditions.

Mr Bauer said the overweight elephant underwent a full medical examination at the zoo on Friday.

In May, Pakistan’s High Court ordered Marghazar Zoo to be closed because of abysmal conditions, blamed on systemic negligence.

Rescuing Kaavan from the zoo’s dire conditions has attracted the attention of animal activists around the world and celebrities including US singer Cher, who have lobbied for his relocation since 2016.

"Unfortunately, the rescue comes too late for two lions that died during an attempted transfer at the end of July after local animal handlers set a fire in their enclosure to force them into their transport crates," Mr Bauer said.

He said Four Paws was invited by the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board to safely transfer the remaining animals in the zoo.

Kaavan has until now been forced to live a solitary life in a small enclosure.

Friday’s medical examination showed the elephant was overweight, even as he showed signs of malnutrition.

His nails were cracked and overgrown apparently from years of living in an improper enclosure with flooring that damaged his feet.

"Following the checks, which confirmed Kaavan is strong enough, steps will now be taken to finalise his relocation to an animal sanctuary, potentially in Cambodia,” Mr Bauer said.

His recovery will be a long one, said Mr Bauer, adding that Kaavan’s wounds are more than just physical. He also suffers from behavioural issues.

Kaavan, who lost his partner in 2012, has battled loneliness as well as poor living conditions. Both have taken their toll, the Four Paws spokesman said.

"He also developed stereotypical behaviour, which means he shakes his head back and forth for hours. This is mainly because he is simply bored,” said Mr Bauer.

The Four Paws team that carried out Kaavan’s physical included wildlife veterinarians and experts.

It is not immediately known when Kaavan will be able to travel.

Reference: Evening Standard: Imogen Braddick 23 hrs ago: 05/09/2020

Unsustainable fishing worsens threats to Great Barrier Reef

Under-regulated fishing along the Great Barrier Reef is putting the world’s biggest coral reef system at further risk as it deals with repeated mass bleaching events, the Australia government’s marine park authority has found.

Conservationists and recreational fishing groups have told Guardian Australia the Queensland government’s rollout of major fisheries reforms, designed to tackle the issues along the reef, has stalled.

Some recreational fishers have walked away from government-run working groups in frustration, saying they will not rejoin until the state government passes new regulations to cap the amounts and types of fish that can be caught.

Queensland’s fisheries minister, Mark Furner, said the government remained committed to the reforms and they were still “on track”.

The Great Barrier Reef has seen three major outbreaks of coral bleaching in the past five years – events driven by climate heating that can kill and weaken corals and severely disturb the ecosystem.

Related: Great Barrier Reef envoy Warren Entsch urges fellow Liberal MPs to do more on climate change

The federal and state governments agree the reef’s greatest threat is from climate change, but there is also broad agreement that local impacts – including improving water quality and tackling unsustainable fishing – could buy the reef more time.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority quietly published its first broad position statement on fishing in late August, laying out a series of issues. The only previous fishing statement, from 2007, covered just one fishery.

So-called “incidental catch” of at-risk species – including dolphins, whales, dugongs, saw fish, sea snakes, turtles and some shark – was “the most significant fisheries sustainability issue” in the marine park, the authority said.

The use of large nets in one fishery put marine wildlife at risk from entanglements and death.

While there was some regulation, over-fishing was causing significant declines of saucer scallop, east coast Australian snapper, pearl perch, black jewfish and some shark species.

“Over-fishing and illegal fishing can compromise the long-term sustainability of stocks and impact the resilience of the marine ecosystem,” the reef marine park authority’s statement says.

An authority spokesperson said statements were used to lay out its position “on an issue where it has strong interest, but is outside its direct regulatory control”.

The authority has zones in the marine park that tell recreational and commercial fishers what they can do and where. But the Queensland government is responsible for regulating fishing.

The state government’s 10-year sustainable fisheries strategy up to the year 2027 would help address the threats if it were fully implemented, the statement said.

But the Australian Marine Conservation Society, WWF Australia and some recreational fishing groups told Guardian Australia that progress on the strategy had ground to a halt.

John Bennett, president of the Mackay Recreational Fishers Alliance, said: “I’m worried that if this [strategy] doesn’t go ahead, then the future looks more like the past.”

Bennett is one of seven recreational fishers who wrote a letter to the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, in late May to say they were standing down from working groups set up to deliver the reforms.

In the letter, seen by Guardian Australia, the group wrote that the strategy’s implementation had stalled at the political level and this was “a betrayal of the good faith we placed in you and your elected colleagues”.

Bennett said reforms were passed in September 2019 setting restrictions on the recreational catch of several species, but promised rules on the commercial sector had not followed.

Fishers can be out there catching endangered wildlife and the authority has no idea what’s being caught

Tooni Mahto
In 2019, a five-yearly report on the health of the reef downgraded its long-term outlook to “very poor”, with climate change recognised as the reef’s greatest threat.

Tooni Mahto, a fisheries and threatened species campaigner at the marine conservation society, said the reforms had been urgent for a decade.

There was excitement among stakeholders when the Palaszczuk government committed to the fisheries reforms, she said, but they had “hit a brick wall”, with no significant steps since September 2019.

“We can’t wait any longer and the reef can’t wait any longer.”

Mahto said regulations waiting to be tabled to parliament included rules to force commercial fishers to land sharks whole instead of dividing them up at sea. Without reform, fisheries managers were in the dark about which sharks were being caught, and how many.

Also waiting, she said, were new rules that would divide fishing areas into smaller and more manageable zones, set catch limits and put monitoring cameras on boats to confirm when fishers had caught endangered species such as dugongs and turtles.

“Fishers can be out there catching endangered wildlife and the authority has no idea what’s being caught,” she said.

There was one more sitting week left before the Queensland government entered caretaker mode ahead of the 31 October election and that time needed to be used to push regulations through, Mahto said.

Related: Sharks 'functionally extinct' at 20% of world's coral reefs as fishing drives global decline

Simon Miller, who works on sustainable fisheries at WWF Australia, said removing the use of large gill nets from the reef was a key issue. The charity asked the government to remove all nets between Cooktown and the Torres Strait to protect a stronghold for dugongs.

The fisheries minister said in a statement the government was committed to its reforms “to safeguard fisheries for our children and grandchildren”.

A third annual progress report, due to be released earlier this year, was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic but was expected before the end of the year. That government report charts progress against targets.

The minister said risks to threatened species from nets was a key objective and that proposed management strategies would give more protection.

Urgent management actions had been introduced to rebuild populations of scallops, pearl perch and snapper, which were all depleted. There were plans to review the status of Spanish mackerel.

Black jewfish are prized for their swim bladders – considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac in some Asian markets. The fish was currently a “no take” species “to address concerns about black marketing of this high value fisheries resource”, Furner said.

“The reforms are still under active consideration by the government. A sustainable fishery is critical to supporting jobs in both the commercial and recreational fishing industries.”

Reference: The Guardian: Graham Readfearn 1 day ago: 04/09/2020

Endangered croc gives piggyback ride to 100 babies after mating with '7 or 8 females'

Picking the kids up from school takes on a different meaning for crocodylian parents.

In this photo, taken by India-based photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee, a male freshwater gharial shows us why. Bobbing in the waters of northern India's National Chambal Sanctuary, the croc waits as more than 100 of his month-old children clamber onto his back for safe passage.

"Other crocs carry their young about in their mouths," Patrick Campbell, the senior curator of reptiles at London's Natural History Museum, told BBC.com. "But for the gharial, the unusual morphology of the snout means this is not possible. So the young have to cling to the head and back for that close connection and protection."

Gharials can measure up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) long and weigh more than 2,000 lbss. (900 kilograms). They are named for the bulbous nobs that males sport on the ends of their snouts. (These nobs are called gharas, which is the Hindi word for "mud pot," according to National Geographic). Crocs use their gharas to amplify vocalizations and blow bubbles during mating season — an adaptation that seems to have served this particular croc well. According to Mukherjee, the pictured papa mated with seven or eight different females to achieve this brood of 100-plus hatchlings.

Hopefully, all those kids grow into healthy adults and become parents themselves. Gharials are critically endangered, with an estimated 650 adults left in the freshwaters of India and Nepal, according to the Natural History Museum. India’s National Chambal Sanctuary, which Mukherjee patrolled for weeks to get this shot, contains 500 of those full-grown gharials.

Mukherjee's photo is one of 100 "highly commended" images in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, hosted by the Natural History Museum of London. Chosen from more than 50,000 entries, the image will join 99 others on the museum's walls and eventually in a traveling exhibition, after the overall winners are announced on Oct. 13.

One of last year's winning entries showcased two subway mice in a desperate struggle over a scrap of snack food. Does Mukherjee's Gharial Father of The Year have what it takes to dethrone them? Check back in October to find out.

Reference: Live Science: Brandon Specktor 8 hrs ago: o4/09/2020

Baby sloth explores new surroundings at London Zoo

Referen ce: P A Media: Duration: 00:18 1 day ago: 04/09/2020